Berbatov's Appreciation Thread

phonics_tid

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2006
Messages
2,343
Location
Your Mother Was a Hamster and Your Father Smelt of
Just watched his episode of Soccerbox with Gary Neville and was reminded how incredible a player he was. I know he could be frustrating at times but for me, he was undoubtedly world class at his best.

To this day, I still don’t think I’ve seen a player with a better first touch than this man. How the hell did we go from him to Lukaku?

I remember seeing that overhead kick against Liverpool live and could’ve torn my vocal chords with my screams. So let’s share the love for Berba...
 

Falcow

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Messages
1,338
Location
Dublin
Great player and most definitely was world class. That assist v west ham I think at OT was sublime.

He never really disappointed me at united as he performed exactly how I thought he would when we bought him, I think most expected more from him but i was never sure what that was based on.

Fergie gave him the cold shoulder after the cup semi final v city and his subsequent omission from the champions league squad must still hurt him......it hurts me still!

He has only gone up in my estimation since he retired.
 
  • Like
Reactions: berbatrick

ricky-romeo

Full Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2008
Messages
8,997
Location
kota bharu
Berba is that kind of a player that you would admire and love to watch because of his beautiful touches and elegance in his game when he is playing for another team. But when he is playing for your own team, you would find him frustrating because he can look lazy and slow then.

Still remember his transfer saga back in summer 2008 that went right through the last minute. I was virtually refreshing the news tab every 5 minutes to know whats happening. The fact that he rejected Man City there and then shows how high he thinks of Man United and Sir Alex.
 

OrcaFat

Full Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
5,657
One of my absolute favourite players of all time. He was the David Gower of football. Sublimely skilful but looked nonchalant at times.

People say Berba should have worked harder and got more from his talent but, like Gower, when you look at his record it is pretty damn good and that takes no account of the genius embodied in the way he played.
 

Art Vandelay

Full Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
5,729
Location
Northern Ireland
He did actually work hard, he tracked back and blocked passing lanes. He was just being compared to Rooney and Tevez, given his languid style that was never going to work out in his favour. He was actually fantastic at defending corners and freekicks too, he won an awful lot of headers at the near post.

He was brilliant to watch too, not the quickest, but that first touch was possibly the best I've ever seen. He was world class, just very different to Tevez who a lot of people wanted instead. He was worth the transfer saga and fee.
 

Chabon

Full Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
5,517
He was born ten years too late, and we should never have bought him, but feck me I loved watching him play football for us.
 

Beachryan

More helpful with spreadsheets than Phurry
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
11,551
Always wanted to see him given a shot as a number 10. His passing was underrated, had that ability to just weight the ball perfectly. And obviously he had the best first touch of just about anyone we've seen at OT.

Love all the stories about how hard his upbringing was too, you'd just never guess it from how he matured.
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
Good player but world class? Was he any where near top 10 forwards in the world nevermind top 20 players?
 

GenZRed

Full Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2019
Messages
634
Great player and most definitely was world class. That assist v west ham I think at OT was sublime.

He never really disappointed me at united as he performed exactly how I thought he would when we bought him, I think most expected more from him but i was never sure what that was based on.

Fergie gave him the cold shoulder after the cup semi final v city and his subsequent omission from the champions league squad must still hurt him......it hurts me still!

He has only gone up in my estimation since he retired.

I thought it was a bad decision to leave him out of that final in 2011. He won the PL Golden boot for the 2010-11 season too, so he deserved to at least make the bench.
 

kafta

Perpetual Under 11's Team Player
Joined
Sep 29, 2004
Messages
5,612
Location
Beirut
I love watching him play, so easy on the eyes. Still talk so highly about United, and about his teammates back then.

Shame we didn't get him earlier.
 

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
95,336
Location
india
Depends on what you mean by world class. He wasn't absolutely in the top drawer. For example he was no RVN, RVP or Rooney level striker, which so why at the time he was a mature of delightful and underwhelming.
 

Jeppers7

Pogfamily Mafia
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
7,287
Just watched his episode of Soccerbox with Gary Neville and was reminded how incredible a player he was. I know he could be frustrating at times but for me, he was undoubtedly world class at his best.

To this day, I still don’t think I’ve seen a player with a better first touch than this man. How the hell did we go from him to Lukaku?

I remember seeing that overhead kick against Liverpool live and could’ve torn my vocal chords with my screams. So let’s share the love for Berba...
Yeah I watched this too....found it strange how much Neville went on about getting back and defending, then remembered the Rooney one where the pair of them were going on about Ronaldo too. Think it’s a very English mentality.

also on Berba Soccerbox, did they show that piece of skill vs West Ham ? Glaring omission if not.
Anyway it inspired me to watch the Blackburn game where he scored five. Some of the link play was awesome, also Nani, who Neville and Rooney kept having digs at, was awesome that game.
 

Henrik Larsson

Still logged in at RAWK (help!)
Joined
Sep 13, 2013
Messages
5,421
Location
Swashbucklington
When he was in the mood he was something else. I think the year he won the golden boot with 20 goals, 5 goals or 25% of his total were scored in that one match against Blackburn which about sums him up as a player, both being capable of absolutely ridiculous things and being very patchy/moody.

Rene Meulensteen would always give these nice interviews to the Dutch press about United and working with particular players. I remember one where he said he truly believed Berbatov could've been one of the best in the game if he had a different type of personality. But then again his particular personality also made him the moody genius he was so there's nothing you could do.

That hattrick against Liverpool was so fecking nice, also from the year we won the league and he won the golden boot. So I guess he scored 40% (or 8/20) of his league goals in two matches that year. That overhead kick for the second goal still makes me wild ten years later :drool:

https://www.manutd.com/en/videos/detail/dimitar-berbatov-hattrick-against-liverpool-on-this-day
 

Web of Bissaka

Full Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Messages
8,553
Location
Losing to Comeback Winning!
Elegant and entertaining. Always fun watching him play. A word to describe would be "cool". Element of intelligence in his game. That said, often I want him to do more, similar with Ozil in a way.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
Good player but world class? Was he any where near top 10 forwards in the world nevermind top 20 players?
At his very peak I think you could've put him somewhere around 9th or 10th in the forwards list. Not definitively though.
 

Brightonian

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
14,090
Location
Juanderlust
Not quite world class and often frustrating but an absolutely delightful player to watch.

My dad and I used to talk about the 'bubble of tranquillity' he played in, where time would seem to slow down when he received the ball. Eventually we just used to shout 'the bubble!' every time he pulled off something filthy.
 

Snuffkin

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 2, 2019
Messages
671
Never liked him, couldn't enjoy him in a utd shirt, he wasn't a good fit. I could have played well in that team.
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
At his very peak I think you could've put him somewhere around 9th or 10th in the forwards list. Not definitively though.
Berbatov had a peak for us? If we are talking about the period from 09-11, he is coming up against:

Rooney
Drogba
Tevez
Forlan
Aguero
Ibrahimovic
Villa
Eto'o
Benzema/Higuain
Milito

After that you have gatekeepers like:
Falcao
Di Natale
Cavani
Muller
Van Persie

Top 15 at a stretch if you ask me. But I don't think he was ever world class.
 

prateik

Full Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
42,151
Here is the video btw.. saw it a couple of days ago too..
 

iHicksy

Full Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2014
Messages
1,818
His technique was on another planet. He could do things with the ball that even then no one else in our team could do. But his problem, if you could call it that, was always his attitude. Not that he had a bad one, he was the type of player (and has said this himself) that would rather create a beautiful goal then score one himself. By god, his touch and ability was definitely world class but he perhaps lacked that instinct or desire to score 30 goals a season that would have put him in the world class category as a striker. A little bit like Hazard in that respect, they both do things with the ball that few others can but don't have that drive to be truly ridiculous players. Still one of my fav players to watch.
 

billybee99

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 27, 2015
Messages
575
Always wanted to see him given a shot as a number 10. His passing was underrated, had that ability to just weight the ball perfectly. And obviously he had the best first touch of just about anyone we've seen at OT.

Love all the stories about how hard his upbringing was too, you'd just never guess it from how he matured.
This. He passing was sublime. I would love to have seen him in the number 10 slot. However, for those saying he was a world class striker, come on! He was never one of the top 3 or 4 strikers in the world. He was even top 10. He wasn't even the best striker at United at the time. That said, I loved to watch him play. He could be a wonderful player to watch on his day.
 
Joined
Jan 8, 2017
Messages
2,824
Started supporting United because of him (same for a lot of Bulgarians probably). Had been watching United with my grandfather for a few years but that was what did it. Luckily I didn't get into the prem two years earlier or I'd be a Spurs fan ffs
 

siw2007

Full Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2014
Messages
2,366
Berbatov was a fabulous player to watch in his day, I was so excited when we finally got him. Over the course of his career at United, he did really well and had some stand out moments but can't help feel a little underwhelmed at the same time. He had a god given talent to play the game, not many players had his control, guile, vision and eye for the spectacular but a lot of time I felt that he could have been so much more if there was more application and drive to his game. He was a great goalscorer but I don't think he had the same hunger for goals as some of the world class strikers of his generation. The team at the time was built to play quick aggressive attacking football with the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo and while it was sound logic to bring in a player who could hold up the ball and was comfortable with his back to goal, his languidity was at odds with the intent of the players around him.
 

horsechoker

The Caf's Roy Keane.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
51,381
Location
The stable
Here is the video btw.. saw it a couple of days ago too..
Great watch, I love the way he talks about his goals. He sees the game differently, like a series of calculations.

He exudes confidence and he's a funny guy. I'd have a pint with him.
 

Irwin99

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
9,124
Berbatov was a fabulous player to watch in his day, I was so excited when we finally got him. Over the course of his career at United, he did really well and had some stand out moments but can't help feel a little underwhelmed at the same time. He had a god given talent to play the game, not many players had his control, guile, vision and eye for the spectacular but a lot of time I felt that he could have been so much more if there was more application and drive to his game. He was a great goalscorer but I don't think he had the same hunger for goals as some of the world class strikers of his generation. The team at the time was built to play quick aggressive attacking football with the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo and while it was sound logic to bring in a player who could hold up the ball and was comfortable with his back to goal, his languidity was at odds with the intent of the players around him.
I feel the same. I find the praise he gets nowadays for his United career to be quite OTT. Not a flop by any means but struggled a fair amount in his debut season, wasn't great in his second season either, much better 3rd season but replaced by Hernandez towards the end of that campaign and I don't really remember that much about him from then on. Again, a very good player but to be honest he wasn't a fantastic signing.